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# Betfair Trading: How to Green Book
- URL: https://jimmakos.com/betfair-trading-how-to-green-book/
- Published: 2008-08-15T19:23:23.000Z
- Updated: 2024-06-30T14:29:17.000Z
- Description: Pre-game sports betting odds traders take their profits before the games start. How do they do it?
- Author: Jim Makos
- Tags: Sports trading, Trading, Gambling

Sports betting in betting exchanges can have many forms, like trading odds.

A sports trader makes money trading the betting odds as they swing. Their profit, which is the sum of all their profitable trades, is shown as a green number in the event they're trading.

The question is how to green book; how to have all possible results in a betting market return a profit.

The answer lies in simple math and free online betting tools.

💡

If it's the first time you've heard of this type of sports betting, read my comprehensive post about [trading the betting odds](https://jimmakos.com/sports-trading/) to learn everything you need to know.

Profitable trading is all about making the right decisions while backing and laying out certain outcomes of an event. The trader uses his knowledge and skill to make money when the betting odds move from highs to lows and vice versa.

At the end of his trading, he stands to win some money on the outcome he has been trading.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/44/8d/448d9c80-c34d-4d74-8a89-3db10bee06f2/content/images/2020/12/trade-drift.png)

The sports trader’s next step is to equalize his profits, in other words, to produce a green book or an all-green screen. All he has to do is divide the profit by the current betting odds of the specific outcome of the betting event and lay that amount. The difference, in case his trades resulted in a loss, is that he has to back (instead of lay) the amount, which results from dividing the loss by the odds. I guess that would be a red book or an all-red screen.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/44/8d/448d9c80-c34d-4d74-8a89-3db10bee06f2/content/images/2020/12/even-profit.png)

Additionally, there are free betting tools online that can help you calculate the amount to back or lay so that you have a green book. But do sports traders actually need to do this every time?

👉

Make sure you read [why odds traders should always green up](https://jimmakos.com/always-green-up-betfair-but-why/)!